FDE sets up200 modern computer labs

Islamabad: Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has established over 200 modern computer laboratories in different educational intuitions across the capital in cooperation with Knowledge Platform, said Director General of the directorate Hasnat Qureshi on Monday.

He was addressing an annual awards ceremony for the Learn Smart Pakistan (LSP) challenges organised by to a Knowledge Platform here at a hotel. Qureshi said that nowadays the technology is way to improve and it has become a major tool of learning and to enhance the abilities in individuals specially in the students and the youth as they have to lead the nation.

While giving the example of the other countries advanced in modern technology, the DG said that currently Singapore is considered best in technology. He suggested that the teachers as well as students in schools /colleges at all levels should encourage others to involve in technology at maximum, adding that it was double edge source of learning.

“it is fact that the female teachers ratio in technology sector was very less as compare to their male counterparts due to various social and culutural barriers which should be increased particularly on primary and secondary level as these are the level where only the teacher who makes difference”, Qureshi maintained.

According to the details, LSP was a non-profit initiative launched in 2014 with the aim to provide quality education for free – is a digital learning platform for teachers and students from grades 6 to 12. The LSP offers a variety of educational material and virtual practice challenges structured on the Pakistani board exams to its users.

On the occasion, Qureshi distributed awards to around 64 winners and 28 runners up from 2017’s summer, fall and winter challenges. Winners were awarded tablets, whereas the runners up were given ‘Shields of Recognition’ for their participation. A total of 19,743 people participated in the competitions – more than double the number from the previous year.

A geographic distribution shows that 5357 of the total participants were from the Federal Capital Territory area, 8004 were from Punjab, 4252 were from Sindh, 1721 were from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 233 were from Balochistan. 88 people from Azad Jammu & Kashmir, 78 from Gilgit-Baltistan and 10 from FATA also took part in the competitions.

Following the speeches from participants, names of the winners for the Highest Proficiency awards were announced. Seeing students from all over Pakistan and across the socio-economic spectrum standing up on stage together was heart-warming and a true depiction of what educational equality can achieve. While most of the winners and runners up belonged to major cities like Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan and Karachi, 17 of them were from remote areas, such as Chakwal, Sobhodero, Bahawalpur, Sheikhupura and Khairpur.

In the feedback session conducted by Director Learning Solutions of Knowledge Platform, Caspar Groeneveld, parents of the students expressed their gratitude to the team behind LSP for providing their children access to quality education and equipping them with the knowledge and tools to compete on a national level.